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Chart notes

Written down
once, properly.

These are the questions we get asked at the end of an appointment, when there are four minutes left and the next patient is already in the waiting room. Answering them here means we can hand you the link instead of rushing it.

Explainers2 notes
Treatments1 note
Families1 note
Written byThe clinical team
A dentist holding a panoramic X-ray up to the light beside a patient in the chair. Explainers5 min

What the numbers on your chart actually mean

Tooth 3, tooth 30, MOD, 4mm pocket. A short decoder for the sheet we hand you at the end of a cleaning, and a list of the questions worth asking while you are still in the chair.

Read the note
A dental teaching model, mirror and probe laid out on a white desk. Treatments6 min

Same-day crowns: what the mill does well, and what it doesn't

Milling a crown in ninety minutes is real. It is also not the right answer for every tooth, and here is when we say no and send the case to a lab instead.

Coming soon
A young boy in the dental chair having his teeth checked. Families4 min

A first dental visit that doesn't end in tears

What we do differently for a three-year-old, why nothing gets treated on day one, and the two things parents can do at home the week before that make the most difference.

Coming soon
A patient and a bearded clinician looking at an X-ray together. Explainers7 min

Reading your own X-ray without panicking

Dark patches are not automatically bad news and bright ones are not automatically good. What the greys mean, what a dentist is looking at first, and which shadows are simply anatomy.

Coming soon

Not written up yet

Ask it and we will write it.

Three of the four notes above started as a question somebody asked twice in the same week. If there is something you were told at a previous practice and never had explained, send it to the desk and we will either answer you directly or put it on this page.

House rule

None of this is your diagnosis.

These notes describe how we read a chart in general. They cannot tell you what is happening in your own mouth, and they are not a reason to postpone something that hurts.

If something is bothering you, book a look. Dr. Raghunathan will tell you what she sees and give you real options, including doing nothing yet.